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Making Christmas cake from scratch is often thought to be a laborious task, with weeks – or even months, of preparation needed to craft the perfect fruit sponge. However, according to one TikTok chef, making this festive favourite is much easier than you think. In a recent video posted on her account, the woman behind @stephcooksstuff shared her “easy” and “incredible”-tasting recipe, which requires just three basic ingredients.
Dried fruit, nuts, spices, and plenty of brandy, rum or sherry are the key ingredients in most Christmas cakes, and while it doesn’t seem like a lot, the shopping list can quickly add up when you consider the other elements needed to make the thick mixture.
Achieving the right consistency and keeping up with the “feeding” routine are both difficult things to master with most recipes, though TikTok chef Steph has shared her easy hack to simplify the entire process.
Using just three ingredients, she showed her followers how to whip up a festive fruit cake in just a few hours.
All you need is mixed fruit, your liquid of choice, and some self-raising flour.
Recipe
To make the dense, Christmas fruit cake, start by measuring out all of your ingredients. You will need:
- 1kg mixed fruit
- 600ml of “any liquid” – orange juice, ginger beer, Bailey’s, rum, coffee, chocolate milk, or even a mixture of two
- Two cups of self-raising flour (400g)
According to Steph, the fruit should be soaked in the liquid overnight before making the cake in order to avoid it being dry and crumbly. You can do this in the fridge uncovered.
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The following morning, add your two cups of flour to the juicy fruit mixture and stir until it is all mixed in.
At this point, the TikTok chef explained that you should preheat your oven to 160C while you line one medium-sized circular cake tin and another smaller one with grease-proof baking paper.
Steph noted that the baking process should take approximately two hours, though you should start testing the mixture with a skewer after the first hour and 15 minutes have passed.
She said: “A skewer should come out with large crumbs and relatively dry.”
The popular TikTok user branded the cake “incredible”, adding that it was “so moist and fruity” when she made it in the video.
While the baking expert noted that you can “use any liquid”, she explained that “something sweet” is best, suggesting ginger beer to one user who commented on the video.
Steph served the cake as it was, with no icing or decorations, though both are easy to make from scratch.
Christmas cakes to be kept in a tin can be made up to three months in advance depending on the recipe you use, though this one is best served as soon as possible.
The cake will last for a few days after serving though it is best not to keep it for more than four days.
According to an expert at Doves Farm, once cut, Christmas cakes will store best if wrapped and kept in an airtight container.
They said: “For longer storage of Christmas cakes wrap closely in kitchen foil and freeze. To serve an iced fruit cake that has been stored for a long time, unwrap it and remove the old icing and marzipan.”
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